Between worlds
by Drakkainen
Summary: After his fifth year, Harry Potter tries to come to terms with what happened in the DoM. He decided that he needs to do something with his life. And when one is in great need The Room of Requirement will provide the best solution...
1. The Origin: Part 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize from the MLP show or the HP books... sadly.

**Extended summary/AN:** I realise that the short summary on the search page is quite cryptic, but that's my style. So on that note I will say that this will be a massive AU story for the MLP universe, as it contains a sort of time travel element in it. And as we know the bare minimum about Equestria's past, I'm mostly creating it. Because of the circumstances Harry may seem OOC, also expect some OCs. There will be romantic relationships, but I'm not that good with writing those so bear with me.

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**The Origin: Part 1  
**

* * *

In the smallest bedroom in Privet Drive 4, a raven haired teen awoke with a start, sitting up on his bed and breathing hard. He shuddered as the nightmare that plagued him, replayed in his mind before it began to fade. With a long sigh, Harry Potter brought his left hand to his head and started massaging his temple. It wasn't enough, that he couldn't sleep properly for almost two weeks now, the nightmare also brought with it headaches. They were minor in his opinion, but still annoying. As if his mood wasn't bad as it was without them...

The young wizard looked at the old alarm clock at the nightstand. It was barely few minutes past three in the morning. With another sigh he thought himself as lucky tonight, at least he got more than five hours of sleep this time. Heavily he fell back, for now just looking at the ceiling.

It was a great burden, to know that he could prevent the death of his godfather... If he just stopped and thought longer about his course of action that fateful night. He should have less faith in Kreacher, as he should have had more faith in Snape. As infuriating as the man was, he still was a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry clenched his hands into fists, as anger began to take over grief. He could blame himself however much he wanted, but he knew that it was not only his fault. It were the mistakes of many that lead to Sirius's death. Voldemort, Bellatrix, Dumbledore, Snape, Fudge, Umbridge, Kreacher even Sirius... and of course he, Harry Potter. He couldn't really get revenge on himself, he could only try and learn from this, but the others... He could get his revenge somehow, if he wanted to that is.

"I'm too damn soft..." He whispered dejectedly. The raven haired wizard knew that it was not a bad trait to have per se, to be forgiving. But he was sure, that there was a limit of how much one can forgive others for. He was certain that he was reaching that limit... for years. He suddenly realized that he had enough.

Enough of being just a pawn, on this great chessboard that was his life. He had entered the wizarding world unprepared, he was naive and a child then. But now he knew better, he had seen more... maybe even too much.

However he knew that there was a problem with his sudden realization. The prophecy. He truly didn't think much of Divination as a branch of magic, but the prophecy seemed genuine. Harry didn't want to think about the destined duel to the death, as it only gave him another headache. Voldemort outclassed him in every aspect, the damned prophecy gave him an impossible task to accomplish. But he would have to keep this thought in mind, that one day he would have to kill the Dark Lord.

One step at a time, after all. He couldn't burden himself with too much, or he would fall under the weight. First came the matter of his knowledge, that was possibly the easiest thing to gain. Experience would come with time... although he didn't know how much time he did have. Power... now that he had, according to his teachers and his friends. His Patronus in his third year was a proof of that. However he didn't quite know how he did manage to cast such a powerful one back then at the lake, it was a bit of an enigma. He had power... he just couldn't control it, and he didn't know why.

Putting those thoughts aside, he had a bigger obstacle before him. He couldn't practice magic during the summer. He closed his eyes. That would have to wait sadly, for now he would have to focus on theory. And that meant shopping for some extra books.

With those final thoughts he slowly began to fall asleep again. During almost an hour of laying in his bed and thinking things through... he made peace with a small portion of himself. It was a small progress, but a progress nonetheless.

* * *

For the next three days, Harry went on with his life as normally as he could. He knew that he was being watched by the Order, and he was trying to pinpoint where were they hiding during their shifts. For three days he tried and saw nothing out of the ordinary. No strange shadows, no grass being flattened by shoes or a person sitting, no out of place sounds. That made him realize that either there was no one watching him, or he underestimated means of magical concealment.

On the fourth day he decided to risk it and called the Knight Bus. The raven haired boy was pleasantly surprised when no one stopped him, when he boarded the purple triple decker.

The ride was as nauseous as he remembered it from his first time, getting through the Leaky Cauldron wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Luckily there were no Order members in the pub or Hogwart's staff. The Diagon Alley was surprisingly quiet, with only a few witches and wizards walking around, sparing him a glance and a wave.

In Gringotts Harry's luck run out. There was only four occupied tellers, however the one closest to the doors was talking with a young woman, with unmistakable vibrant pink hair. As he stared at the back of her head, Nymphadora Tonks turned around, with a frown... that turned into a shocked look when she saw him.

Quickly she masked her surprise and marched towards him with a purpose in her steps.

"Wotcher Harry... What are you doing here? Alone?" She kept her voice down as to not disturb the goblin tellers. But even then, only a deaf man would miss the anger and disbelief in her voice.

"Uh... I can explain Tonks..." Harry was struggling with words right now, as he saw her hair turn red. He saw that happen a few times, when people forgot how she disliked her full name.

"You better have a good excuse then, Harry." Tonks said as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. The now read haired witch saw the younger boy take a deep breath.

"I need gold... For books and maybe some other stuff. I know, I can't practice magic... but I can still read and that's better than doing nothing. I want to learn Tonks, so that... so that nothing like the DoM happens again..." He still couldn't say his godfather's name. It brought too much emotional pain. He even stuttered when he talked about the Department of Mysteries. "I'm such a mess. Can't even talk about... him."

Instantly Tonk's posture relaxed, and she sighed heavily. She put her right hand on his shoulder.

"Look Harry... We all in the Order know that Sirius's death hit you hard. But going all alone into Alley, even with good intentions... You're wasting his sacrifice." She saw how Harry flinched at her last words. "That said, I will just have to stick with you for your shopping trip. I'll still have to report this later to Dumbledore though."

His mood lifted significantly when she finished, but he frowned when she mentioned that she wanted to inform the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Harry wanted to be his own man, make his own decisions... Dumbledore had good intentions, Harry knew that much. But he was annoyed with the man and his meddling.

Through the last few days he realized, that his first four years at Hogwarts were suspicious, when it came to his... adventures. It appeared as if only his last year, and what went on during it, was mostly the sum of his own decisions.

"Do you really need to talk with Dumbledore about my... our shopping trip?" When those words left his mouth, he saw how Tonks stiffened a bit once again. She looked at him, exasperated.

"Harry, why should I break the rules of the Order? You want books... and we could look into getting you some new clothes, that's fine. That's small stuff. Why do you want to keep this... silent?"

"Tonks..." Harry looked to his left and right. There was still no one close to them. "The truth is... Dumbledore is a good man, but I'm annoyed with him. He kept me in the dark for years now, maybe it's petty revenge, but can you blame me?" He decided that going with the truth, or most of it, was the right thing to do.

Tonks lifted her hand from his shoulder and in an over the top gesture, spread them wide and then let them fall to her sides. She sighed.

"Fine, fine... it's more trouble, than it's worth it. But I can understand it. Just this once Harry I will keep silent." The young witch was rewarded with a sight of a smiling Harry. There was something in that way he smiled, that made her mind wander, and her hair turned a delicate pink shade. She turned around, to hide her own smile and slightly pink cheeks. "Now then, lets get you some gold."

After that everything went smooth for the pair, as the goblins didn't waste time. And even Harry not having his key, wasn't going to change that. The whole episode in the Gringott took only around half an hour, which surprised Harry.

When he and Tonks left the bank, with Harry carrying a medium sized pouch filled with galleons, the Alley was fully coming to life with many more wizards wandering the street. Both of them reached Flourish and Blotts without any incident. Inside Tonks guided Harry to the books she thought would help him the most. However what annoyed the young wizard were two specific books.

"Really Tonks? Basic Magical Theory and The Nature of Magic? Those sound like... I don't know, something kids would read."

"Believe me Harry, those two are a great read. And The Nature of Magic is age restricted. I will buy that one for you and you will pay me back." She said taking the thinner of the two books in her hands. Its cover was dark grey, it had some decorative silver design on its edges that looked arcane. "Seriously though, that's dumb to restrict this book in such a way..."

"Why's that?" Now that she said that, Harry's curiosity was piqued.

"You will have to read it to find that out." The pink haired metamorphmagus said sticking her tongue out.

"Very mature, Tonks..." Harry grumbled with a slight smile.

In the end, alongside those two books Harry bought only three more. One was a thin spell booklet of offensive, non-lethal charms and curses titled 101 Basic Dueling Spells. It had only like thirty pages in it but, according to the young witch that one was the most useful and 'to the point' title that he could find in this bookstore. It still came as a surprise when he had to pay over twenty galleons for it...

The second one was something he picked in hopes of honoring Sirius and his father. The Animal Within, was a promising title when it came to animagus transformation related magic. At least Tonks said that it was a good book, not the best, but still better than most written about this particular subject.

The third one was a bit different. It was a thick, large tome easily rivalling the Monster Book of Monsters in size. The Inner Magic, a comprehensive guide, was something he picked out of curiosity. But Harry quickly decided that he had to have it, after he browsed the book to look at what it had to offer. And it had much. It shocked him when he discovered that it was mostly centered around Occlumency.

That book dampened his mood significantly. He was beyond angry, at knowing that such book existed and that neither Dumbledore and Snape told him about it. But with a few deep breaths he calmed himself, he would not allow his temper to run unchecked. Not any more.

All in all Harry left the bookstore with almost fifty galleons less in his pouch.

After that, and a quick second visit in the bank to exchange the rest of his gold from the pouch into a significant number of pounds, they moved to Muggle London. As Tonks had promised, they spent next few hours picking for him some new cloths. They were in the fourth shop, not even an hour into their shopping spree, when the young witch decided to give her true opinion about Harry's choices so far.

"You know, I understand that you're in bad mood, and griefing... But for Merlin's sake! Are you trying to be the new King of Gloom? Pick something that isn't gray or black!"

Harry just rolled his eyes at that. He was as annoyed with the shopping as apparently she was... But having clothes that actually fit, was something he didn't want to pass up on. And suffering through the boring routine of searching and trying on countless clothes, was far easier when one had company. But for her sake, he bought some red and white coloured clothing afterward.

To show his appreciation to her, he invited her to a restaurant that they found during their wanderings. She was resisting the idea at first, but quickly gave up.

It early evening when Harry returned to Private Drive. Luckily Tonks had cast a minor extension charm at the pouch he got from gringotts, when they were parting, so everything fit into it. It was a tight fit, but they managed nonetheless.

Before he entered the Dursley's house, Harry took a deep breath. He would have a hard time explaining his absence and the new clothes he wore.

As he expected, when he closed the doors behind him he heard his uncle's voice.

"Boy! Get into the living room. Now!" Harry breathed with relief, his uncle's voice sounded more annoyed than angry. Without further ado he did just what he was told to do.

When Vernon and Petunia Dursley saw their nephew enter the living room in brand new black jeans and a dark grey t-shirt, with new white and gray sneakers on his feet, for a minute they just gaped at him.

"What is the meaning of this?! Where did you get those clothes from, boy?" Vernon was the one that recovered quicker.

"I bought them. I think that should be obvious." Harry kept his face as devoid of emotions as he could, he wanted a peaceful summer, and he would get it. He even know how to accomplish that. When the idea came to him, he wanted to bang his head on the nearest wall for not thinking about it sooner.

"Why you..." But before he could continue, Vernon was silenced by Petunia's hand lightly gripping his shoulder. He took a deep breath, but said no more.

"Explain." Petunia's voice was neutral, but it was obvious she wanted a good explanation. It also served as a hidden warning, no one wanted Vernon to explode, but she could do only so much before hers husband patience for her nephew run out.

"I don't really have to explain anything to you. However, as I want to have a peaceful summer, lets make a deal. I will pay you one hundred pounds for every week of my stay here, and you leave me alone. I will do no chores in that time of course. Let's just... stay out of each others way as much as possible." Harry looked his uncle in the eyes, and he saw the greed in them. He really should have done this sooner. "What do you say?"

"Boy, you got yourself a deal. So where are the money?"

Without saying anything Harry took out of his pocket a hundred pound bill. He walked to the coffee table and laid the money on it. He shot his relatives a smug look, before turning around and leaving the room.

When the young wizard reached his room, he closed the door, tossed the pouch on his bed... and leaned against the doors, closing his eyes. He got what he wanted and still had trouble grasping the idea, that his relatives would be so shallow, so greedy. Well his uncle was those things anyway, it was harder to tell with his aunt. But she really didn't matter that much.

Harry finally walked towards his bed, took off his clothes and collapsed on it. This was one of the most tiring days in his life. The shopping drained him physically, and the short confrontation with his relatives drained him emotionally. Acting so... unlike himself in front of them, was the hardest thing he did so far in his life. Probably because on some level he was still scared of his uncle...

He didn't think about many more things that night as he fell asleep quickly. Sadly even his small victory in the livingroom, could not lift his mood so much to protect him from the nightmares...

* * *

The rest of the summer went according to his plan, that is with the exception of Dumbledore visiting. And their little trip to ensure that Professor Slughorn would return to Hogwarts willingly. His earlier departure to The Burrow was also nice, however that in itself also brought questions that he really didn't want to answer.

"Finally Harry you look presentable, did the muggles get these for you?" Mrs. Weasley question brought Dumbledore's attention to him, and of course everybody else present.

At that moment he had to quickly decide, to hide the truth from them all, to get one over the old Headmaster, or to just admit to his little shopping trip and probably get scolded for his foolishness. In the end, it really was a simple choice...

"I finally managed to talk them into it. It was not easy, but my aunt was surprisingly supportive this time." Harry kept his voice low and looked anywhere but at Molly, smiling sheepishly. He was surprised when they didn't question his answer, taking it for the truth.

For that day until the first of September, Harry found himself following a new routine. He would wake up, eat breakfast with the Weasley's... which was an adventure on itself sometimes, with the twins around, then he would read and practice what he could, mostly Occlumency. Hermione was showing almost motherly pride at his new study habits, Ron was mostly just confused about his change in attitude and a bit terrified that he would have to deal with two bookworms now.

After dinner he would find a secluded place, as much as it was possible within such a lively household, and start reading the book he decided not to share with Hermione yet. The Nature of Magic. The book was written more to question one's understanding of Dark and Light magic. The author it would seem, wanted to provoke the reader to form his own opinion on the matter. Harry was still conflicted about the book, as it mostly teared apart the view on magic that was presented to them at Hogwarts and by the Ministry.

When it came to his other study fields, especially Occlumency, he was making progress that exceeded his own expectations. Admittedly, it was easier to learn it without a teacher that had a grudge with his dead father, that tried to settle it with him by making his life harder than it already was. He was still at the basic level, dealing with his memories, and sorting his knowledge. But it was a tremendous progress in his opinion, compared to what he achieved under Snape's... tutelage.

Surprising himself, he devoured the book about basic magical theory in the first few days of his stay. It was written so well that a five year old wizard child could understand it. The day he thought about that, made him snort in amusement. It probably was written that way with that exact purpose anyway.

His Animagus study was slow going, which frustrated him to no end... He realised that there was nothing really he could do about that until he got to Hogwarts.

And so it went for the remainder of the summer. Although, even his slowly expanding knowledge of Occlumency, and the undeniably familial and cheerful atmosphere of The Burrow, could not always protect him from relieving the night of Sirius's death...

* * *

The mood among the students in Hogwarts was dampened. That much became obvious during the first week of the lessons. The looming threat of Voldemort, and Snape becoming the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor were enough to subdue the usually energetic, young population of the castle.

It also so happened that during that week, Harry found the answer to all of his problems... well most of them. The Room of Requirement. He would need to thank Hermione later on for giving him this suggestion, and helping him come up with the phrasing for what he needed the Room for.

On the evening of the second Sunday of his sixth year, Harry Potter stood before the wall that served as the hiding spot for the doors to the peculiar room. There was nobody in the corridor, so he decided to whisper his request, increasing its power.

"I need a place where I can learn and train. Where I could become strong enough to defeat Voldemort." The young, raven haired wizard repeated the phrase until a door appeared. The strange thing about them was, that they were engraved with two unicorn heads, with their horns crossing.

Cautiously he opened the door, only to see a circular room with a small table in the middle. On it rested a glowing, bluish crystal. That in itself was odd, but the Room did provide what he needed last year...

So he entered the room and closed the doors, which then melted into the wall and disappeared, the only light in the room was coming from the crystal. When Harry was by the small table, he raised his hand and held it over the crystal, not really knowing what else to do beside touching it.

"Here goes nothing..." The young wizard said, closed his eyes, and put his hand on the crystal.

He felt a pull, not unlike the one he experienced while using a Portkey, but this one was accompanied by a pressure that enveloped his body, trying to stretch it in ways that should be impossible.

When he finally hit the ground, he was barely able to feel his body. His vision was blurred, but he could make out trees surrounding him. His ears flicked at the sound of slowly flowing water somewhere in the distance.

"Wait... what..." He blurted out, he could feel his ears flicking back and forth tracking the sounds around him. That was wrong.

His vision began to regain focus again, and he decided that he had enough of lying in the dirt, so he sat up... or tried to at least. His arms felt weird, so he immediately lost balance. Curious he looked at them, only to find that his arms became forelegs, covered in dark gray fur and adorned with hooves.

"What the hell?!" Harry started to frantically look himself over, and to his growing horror discovered that he was turned into a horse of some kind. And he could still talk apparently. He could now clearly see that he had a black tail and black mane, if the few bangs of hair falling into his sight were any indication. What made his jaw drop was the red lightning bolt adoring his... flank. He frowned, something about it felt wrong but, for now he had greater concerns than a tattoo on his rump.

"I need to stand up... and I need a mirror." Knowing what body he was currently occupying, it was a bit easier to sit up. Standing up was a bit more problematic, so he took his time. When finally after his seventh try he was standing on slightly wobbly legs, Harry tried to walk.

If he had to tell how much time it took him to reach the small stream he heard earlier, he would tell it took hours. And maybe it did. Despite being in the forest he could feel the heat of the midday sun. So when he reached the stream he was overjoyed.

He stood at the water's edge, before he took a deep breath and looked down. His eyes widened at what he saw. First thing he noticed in his reflection, was the horn.

"I'm a freaking unicorn!" Harry shouted in astonishment, then he took notice of his still unruly black mane that seemed a bit longer than it should be. Then Harry sighed with relief, he still had his brilliant, emerald green eyes. Lastly he noticed that the fur on top of his muzzle was partially black, creating an interesting, geometrical pattern.

"Now to figure out where I am..." Suddenly he scowled, and shouted in anger. "I'm so stupid! Where is the crystal?" He turned around and started looking for the clearing he had landed in.

He quickly realized that he couldn't find the clearing... He was so focused on not falling muzzle first into the ground, that he didn't pay proper attention to what route he had taken from his landing place to the stream.

When the sun began to hide behind the horizon, and the forest was becoming progressively darker Harry knew he was lost. More than that, he was exhausted and dismayed. In frustration he punched the nearest tree with a grunt.

Having nothing to lose anymore, he just walked forward.

When the moon was almost gone from the sky, and the slight pinkness of the east horizon indicated that a new day will begin soon, he reached the edge of the forest. From there he saw something that gave him hope again. Lights in the distance. His exhaustion suddenly forgotten he galloped, yes galloped, in the direction of the lights that probably were a village of some kind.

When he finally saw the outline of low houses, he started to stumble. Every breath he took brought with it pain in his sides, every step he took made his muscles felt as if they were on fire. But he pushed forward.

When the first rays of the morning sun hit his face, he collapsed at the edge of a wheat field. For a while he drifted on the edge of consciousness. That's when he heard soft steps and then a high pitched, girly scream. Something tucked at his mane.

"Sir! Sir, are you alright?!"

Before he blacked out from the extreme exhaustion, Harry heard the girly voice scream.

"Mom! Dad! Somepony needs help! Come quick!"

* * *

When Harry slowly awoke, he was confused. Last thing he remembered was the exhausting run... Or was it a dream? With an effort he lifted his head and looked down at his hoofed legs and dark gray coated body. So... not a dream.

He looked around the small room he was in. It walls made of what looked like clay bricks, were bare, except for the small window with wooden shutters, he could see that there was no glass pane in it. Through the cracks in the shutters rays of sunlight flooded the small room. When he looked at his bed it turned out to be a simple wooden frame, filled with straw and covered with some material. At least his pillow was stuffed mostly with feathers.

In that moment, when he was studying the simple bed, the doors opened and a young filly walked in. She had a light green coat, and pale blond mane tied into a simple braid. When Harry looked at her he noticed that she didn't have a horn.

"Oh you're awake!" Her voice was excited and she quickly ran out of his room.

Not a minute later the filly returned with an adult mare in tow. At a first glance he could tell that she spent a lot of time working, probably on the fields. Her moves and the way she carried herself spoke about her hidden strength. Her coat was brown and her main was a rich honey color. What surprised him was the three wheat stalks image on her flank. She held a wooden bowl filled with water in her teeth. She approached him, Harry took the hint, and when she touched the bowl to his lips and tipped it he drank greedily. After he drank the water she put the bowl on the ground.

"My name is Summer Harvest, and this is my daughter Golden Harvest. She found you passed out in our field. What made you run like that, and what's your name stranger?" Golden's voice was full of concern when she asked her questions.

Harry blinked slowly. Those were some strange names... However what surprised him more was that the two ponies could talk. That and their coloring at last made him realize, that he probably was not on Earth anymore. The Room of Requirement had outdone itself this time. But then... where was he?

"I was lost, your village..." His voice was raspy, and he wondered how long he was unconscious. He laid his head down on the pillow again. "Was the first I saw, so I ran. As to my name... I don't know. I don't even know where I am." Harry decided to keep his real name to himself, seeing as the locals had a different approach to them, at least he guessed so.

"Oh you poor thing... You're in the village of Trottingham, we are a small and relatively new settlement, and we're on the far south-west border of the Kingdom of Equestria." The mare said looking at him.

"Equestria?" To Harry that was one of the most ridiculous names one could give to a country, but it was only his ex-human opinion.

"After the fall of the Spirit of Chaos, the Royal Sisters created a new country for us, ponies to live in. You have to be from the Wilds to not know that... I heard that some communities still live in self imposed exile, too scared of the Spirit to return even now." When she said that her muzzle took on a somber look. But as quickly as it showed, it was replaced by a small smile. "You should be able to leave the bed tomorrow. Your case of exhaustion was one of the worst I have ever seen."

Suddenly Harry's emerald green eyes widened.

"Oh... It probably was quite a burden to care for me... however long I was unconscious. Thank you." A roguish smile appeared on his muzzle, not that he was aware of how it looked, but he saw its effect, when the mare blushed slightly and her smile widened.

"That's was no problem really. It was mostly Golden that watched over you..." Golden said while she put a hoof on hers daughter head. The young filly smiled broadly.

"Well then... I can leave tomorrow?"

"That's right, you should probably speak with Glimmer then, she's the oldest unicorn in our village right now. Whatever help you will need, she will probably be better suited to help you..." Said the earth pony mare, while she started to usher her daughter out of the room. "Get some sleep..." She blinked a few times. "Oh, and pick something to call you by, at least for now?" She added with a quiet, embarrassed laugh. With that she closed the door, leaving him alone again in the small room.

* * *

**AN: **Welcome to my new story, this will be on rather slow updates for now. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it! R&R.


	2. The Origin: Part 2

******Disclaimer:** I own nothing beside the OC's...

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**The Origin: Part 2  
**

* * *

Harry woke up in his new unicorn body the next morning, feeling well rested. When he looked at the shutters he could see the morning sun's rays. If he had to guess, it was late in the morning. With a look at his hooves he assured himself that the last few days were not some crazy dream.

"This is going to take some time getting used to…" He said, as he swung his body out of the simple bed. Standing on all fours was still new to him, but at least now he didn't wobble on his legs like he did after his arrival.

The doors creaked, as the young filly, Golden Harvest… opened them with her hoof. She was balancing a fruit bowl on her head and had the look of utmost concentration on her young muzzle. Harry didn't wait for her to drop it, with a bit of thought, he approached her and took the bowl from her. Holding it with his teeth, as he had no other idea how to grab it, he put it on his bed. When he turned around he saw the filly smiling at him.

"Thank you Golden." Harry said smiling himself. "You and your mother are too kind."

"That's no problem mister, we had a really good harvest this year." She said as she almost bounced up to him. "Besides, my mother always says to be polite and helpful."

"Are all… ponies... so generous around here?" Using the term 'pony' left him feeling rather weird. Despite this he couldn't help but think, that maybe being thrown into this world wasn't such a bad thing, if this first impression was anything to go by.

"Well…" Golden scrunched her little muzzle in thought, which to Harry looked rather cute he had to admit. "There's this old, grumpy pony… And a couple that settled in the last week, that keeps complaining about things… Oh, and there's that strange pony that lives on the outskirts that keeps to himself. But other than those ponies the rest is really nice."

As she was talking Harry decided to eat some of the fruits. He saw a couple of oranges and cherries in the basket but he went for the apples, that looked far more shinier and healthier than any he had seen. And as it turned out they also tasted much better. In no time he devoured the three apples that were there. He looked at the filly again, when he heard her giggling.

"What?" He asked a bit playfully with a raised eyebrow. Suddenly he realized that he got carried away in his eating frenzy. A small blush showed on his dark gray furred cheeks.

"You got something stuck over here mister…" Golden said still giggling, but she pointed with her hoof at her lower left jaw. She laughed, when she saw him sticking his tongue out and maneuvering it to the right place to get rid of the offending apple piece.

"Now thats that taken care of, care to show me around the village?" He asked with a small smile.

"Sure! Mom is on the fields with dad, so we can go to her later on, if you want to." Harry nodded as an answer to that. The filly jumped up excitedly, and then pouted. "There's really not too much to show around here. But common…" Golden said leading him out of the room.

For the first time, Harry got a look at the rest of the house. It was simple in design, and had simple furnishings. In the the far end of the moderately sized, rectangular room, he saw a fire pit and near it some cauldrons, blackened from the fire. There was a table with two chairs, on which he spotted a large bowl filled with fruits. There were two chests at to his left, probably with whatever was needed around here. Across the room he could see another door, he guessed that it was Golden and Summers room. On his left there were two windows, with wooden shutters and a door. The room was surprisingly dim.

Golden went to the door on his left and opened them, flooding the room with light from outside. She waited for him just outside as he moved to stand at the entrance. What he saw made Harry, sigh sadly as it started to sink in that he could be very well stuck here.

A dozen houses, made from clay bricks and with thatch roofs were arranged in a circle, creating a large square, with a well in the middle and some randomly set up stalls. He could see that the ponies sold mostly fruits, vegetables or even baked goods, but he could see one pony selling pottery and some tools. The square was not even paved with stone, it was just dirt hardened by the hooves of the villagers that he saw walking around. As Harry and Golden began their tour she pointed out the vendors and named them, giving him a short, if sometimes humorous description of said ponies.

Not even twenty minutes later, the grand tour was over, as the two stood before the doors to a comparatively larger house than those surrounding it. What piqued his interest was that he could see glass windows in this house.

"Who lives here Golden?" Harry asked even as the filly knocked on the doors.

"Glimmer." Was the fillis answer, as they heard a muffled "Coming!" from behind the doors.

When the door handle glowed with a pale blue aura the doors swung open, revealing an aging unicorn mare with silvery mane and indigo colored coat, that had a more than a few gray hairs in it.

"Golden my dear child, who have you brought with you this time?" The second thing that stood out to Harry was the accent. Compared to those in the town he manage to listen, Glimmer's voice spoke of nobility, or so he imagined a noble would sound.

"You know how we found the exhausted pony on the fields. It's him."

"Good morning." Harry decided to be polite and greeted the other unicorn with a nod.

Glimmer sized her guest with a quick look, before stepping aside.

"Come in, come in. Golden, why don't you go play with other children, I heard they're at the orchards." The filly didn't protest too much at being dismissed.

When Harry entered the well lighted living room, first thing he saw was the bookcase filled with scrolls, and more than a dozen books. Other than that the furnishings weren't that different from those in Summer's house, if one ignored the wood covered floor.

"I must say, I didn't quite expect such a young handsome stallion to be the reason for my killer headache a few days ago…"

He almost jumped when he hear Glimmer's voice to his right. Somehow without him knowing it she settled on a blanket near hers fire pit.

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked immediately turning suspicious.

"The magical discharge. My special talent is sensing magic young one." She said pointing hers flank with a hoof. Now that she pointed it, he saw what looked like wisps of glittering smoke forming a vague eye shape. "Whatever method you used to come near this village, was powerful beyond anything I felt in a very long time."

"Is that what this… mark of yours mean?" Finally Harry would get an explanation about his own mark, he could feel it.

"Mostly yes. That's why I moved over here… I noticed that as I aged could not handle magically rich environments as I could in my youth. Too much… noise, one could say." The elderly mare said, as she levitated a steaming cup of something that smelled vaguely… fruity. "Tea? My own blend." Harry nodded.

He closely observed the kettle beginning to glow with the same pale blue aura that Glimmer's cup was surrounded in. The kettle began to pour hot water into another cup. With a quick glance at the other unicorn he saw how her horn was shrouded in the same pale blue aura. Before he knew it, a second cup was floating before him. Then he realised his mistake…

"I don't…" Harry licked his lips nervously, when he saw his host frowning slightly at him. "I don't know how to use my magic." Now that he thought about it, he could feel the warmth he always associated with his magical power, but without his wand he was lost as to how he was supposed to access it, or even use it. And being in a body so different wouldn't make it easier.

"Interesting…" Glimmer put the second cup before him. "Sit down, this is going to take longer than I thought."

The ex-human looked at how Glimmer sat, and did his best to imitate it. With a blush he quickly fought down, he realized how embarrassing this position was for a stallion. Before he could really began to ponder the sense of modesty and intimacy among ponies, he shot that thought down. He could have a philosophical debate about his state of undress later. Getting a grasp on his magic was the biggest issue he should be thinking of right now.

"You know, in my youth I heard of a case in which a spellcrafter miscalculated in his new formula and the magic involved in the casting drove him mad." She took a sip, after she voiced her thoughts. "It's possible that what you did resultet in memory loss."

Internally Harry sighed with relief, the old unicorn basically created his backstory for him. He could think later on how to improve upon it, to make it more authentic.

"All I remember is a magical crystal, and then I found myself in the forest." Harry tried to sound thoughtful and a bit unsure.

"That would fit then." Glimmer sighed as she put down her own cup of tea. "I can help you relearn a few things about magic, if you want to."

"Yes of course." He answered hastily.

"But before that… Show me your cutie mark, and try to remember your name. I have to call you something, and young stallion is too cumbersome."

Harry blinked, and then it clicked. It was such a strange name for the thing that was supposed to show his special talent, which still felt off somehow. He stood up took a step closer to the older unicorn and showed her his flank.

"Hmmm… Definitely something tied to magic." He saw how a moment later her eyes narrowed, and without warning she prodded his cutie mark with her hoof.

"Hey!" Harry jumped out of hers hooves reach and glared at her.

"Oh don't be such a prude, young stallion. One would think you would like mares touching your flank…" Despite it sounding as if she tried to joke, however the seriousness he could see on her muzzle unnerved him. "There is magic, powerful magic lingering around your cutie mark, what it is I don't know. But it's… revolting to my touch." He could hear the worry in her voice.

Harry's own muzzle twisted for a second into a look of loathing. Always something went wrong for him sooner or later. Quickly a look of resignation settled into his features.

Glimmer looked at the unicorn before her with sympathetic look. Cursed cutie marks were a rare thing, and a sign that the young one had powerful enemies in the world, if they were able to do that to him. She stood up and went to give him a reassuring hug.

"Every magic has its counter young one, it's just a matter of finding it. I will help you to the best of my abilities, but your best bet would be to go to Everfree City, the seat of the Royal Sisters power. There is a vast library there with books and scrolls about the arcane arts. You will probably find your answers there."

Harry stiffened after the initial contact, but then relaxed and sighed deeply. He listened with attention to what the other unicorn said. What the older unicorn said sounded almost like a plan.

"Thank you." He raised one hoof, balancing on the other three proving a bit less challenging than he thought it would be, and briefly returned the hug. After that he took a step back, out of her embrace. "Well then… what now?"

Glimmer smiled sadly, at least he wanted to do something.

"Now we begin your lessons…" She stopped and tilted her head slightly to left side. "Blackmane…"

"What?" Harry asked not catching on immediately.

"Well I have to give you a name, if you don't pick one." The older unicorn said with a stubborn look on her muzzle.

He looked at her and sighed in defeat. She really looked like she would just name him without his input, if he didn't pick something.

"And you did it again, all that sighing and being all somber…"

"What now?" Harry didn't exactly see where she was going with all this, given his situation he had a right to behave like he did… didn't he? And it wasn't like he was somber before this talk...

"Somber Blackmane." Glimmer said testing it out. "Sounds almost noble… For a unicorn it will do."

"Now stop right ther-uff..." Before he could continue a levitated apple found its way into his mouth.

"Shush you. If what Golden told me yesterday was true, you had almost two days to think about your name. First lesson in magic Somber, if you are going to do something, do it. Being uncertain or indecisive while wielding magic can be disastrous. For example, it's better to finalize a spell that you realized too late will drain you to the point of exhaustion, then cut the flow on such a powerful spell." She looked him in the eyes. "Because believe me, you are powerful and the backlash from such a spell, that would drain most of your power, almost certainly would be fatal."

All Harry could do was nod in understanding. Finally he was able to chew his way through the apple.

"And what about Harry Blackmane?" In his opinion that wasn't half as bad as the one the older unicorn came up with.

"I'm still calling you Somber." Glimmer said in a bout of stubbornness, as she quite liked the name she came up with. "Anyway back to the topic of magic…"

* * *

By the time Harry managed to get out of Glimmer's house, the sun was low on the horizon. It was almost terrifying how the old unicorn became excited about teaching him magic. But he could somewhat understand her. Her sensitivity to magic, meant that she was on a self imposed exile. With most of the villagers being earth ponies, and a few being pegasi… she was the only unicorn in town, him not counting. She hadn't had the occasion to chat about magic with anyone in years.

At least now, after hours of lectures, discussions and exercises he was able to use levitation like almost any other unicorn. It still required a bit more concentration on his part, compared to the almost instinctual use Glimmer seemed to show.

From what Harry gathered, the older unicorn could tutor him for almost a three months before she run out of material to teach him safely. He guessed that it was also long enough to learn the customs of this world, and get used to the idea of being a unicorn.

On his way to the fields, he noticed for the first time the curious glances the other ponies gave him. He answered to those glances with a small smile.

When he went past the ring of houses, he could finally appreciate the nature around him. Fields of wheat, and young orchards. In the distance he could see young fillies and colts running around in the shade of the orchard trees. In the fields ponies worked, plowing, harvesting and tending to the plants.

He saw Summer Harvest with another, bulkier pony in the wheat field constructing what looked like scarecrows. In no time he approached them.

"Hello Summer." Harry said looking at the pony by her side. The stallion was also an earth pony, and stood almost a head taller than Harry. His coat was light brown mostly save for few white spots on his rear and back. He had a dark brown mane, that looked almost as unruly as Harry's. He had a hoe and what looked like gardening scissors as his cutie mark.

"Hello there… This is my husband, Keeper." Summer said with a bit of an embarrassed laugh when she couldn't come up with something to call Harry.

"I've finally decided to go by Harry Blackmane."

"Nice to meet you… well, when you're awake." The stallions voice although having a rough quality to it, was quiet and calm. Keeper extended a hoof, which Harry hesitantly shook.

"We are almost finished here Harry, if you want you can wait or help putting up the last few scarecrows." Summer said waving her hoof at the pile of sticks, straw and strips of material that laid a near her side.

"I can help, finally." Harry smiled as he concentrated. His horn began to glow a with a vibrant emerald aura.

Under the instructions from both Summer and Keeper, Harry helped them on the field for which both of them were grateful. But on their way to the village Keeper decided to share with Harry a bit of his social knowledge.

"It's an earth pony village Harry, you will get far more respect if you do most things earth pony way. Not that we don't appreciate magic."

That gave Harry something to think about, apparently some prejudice was present among ponies.

When the trio arrived at Summer's and Keeper's house, Golden greeted them with the energy that only a child could posses. Over the course of the following supper, the filly regaled them with the tales of her plays with other village youngsters. And it was when Harry thanked them all properly and voiced his plans to leave in a few months.

"If you plan to stay for three more months, you can live with us. We have the room." Surprisingly it was Keeper that proposed this.

"I couldn't, it's too much to ask of you." Harry answered a bit embarrassed that some...pony would offer such a thing to him, a complete stranger.

"If it would make you more comfortable, you could always… work it of on the fields. However… We still have lots of grain to sell, but don't have the time right now to travel to the mills in the neighboring towns to trade." Summer offered with a thoughtful expression, looking at her husband. "You could do it, if you're up to it?"

"That's not a bad idea Summer. They would think twice before cheating a unicorn…" Keeper added.

So Harry agreed to help them out. Having the next three months planned, he guessed he would have little time to himself between his magic lessons and helping the earth pony family. But maybe that's what he needed right now.

He just hoped that everything would be alright at Hogwarts in the meantime, and that he could find a way to return to his world.

* * *

**AN: **So another chapter done. This one is shorter and not that much is going on in it, but the stage is set and I felt that it was the best place to end it. In the next chapter I will probably describe those three months in a series of time-skips... Anyhow I hope you enjoyed it, R&R.


	3. The Origin: Part 3

**Disclaimer: **I still own nothing...

* * *

**The Origin: Part 3  
**

* * *

For the next couple of days Harry worked out a new routine. He woke up early with the rest of the family just after sunrise. The four of them would eat breakfast, that consisted mainly of vegetables. After that Harry, Summer and Keeper would go out on the fields to tend to them, which consisted mostly of uprooting weeds and chasing out rodents that would make their burrows on the fields.

At the beginning it sounded simple enough for the human-turned-unicorn, but just after one day spent on the field under the late summer sun, he ached all over and his whole body was covered in dust. Harry truly tried to do most of the work on their fields the earth pony way, and that lead to him painfully discovering muscles he didn't know that even existed.

While they worked, Golden Harvest would bring them water or a small snack when they requested it, or she would bring them tools if they needed them.

After the morning chores were done, Summer and Keeper would go on their way to do whatever they saw fit to do around their home. Golden ran away to find other children to play with and Harry would go to Glimmer for their daily lessons in magic, but not before visiting the small stream that flowed behind the village. It was a half of an hour of a brisk trot to get to it and then back to town, but at least he could somewhat clean himself after the morning work. And the cool water tended to help him relax.

As to his magical studies he was making progress. It probably helped that he had five years of experience in using his magic under his belt already. The older unicorn was excited at his progress.

His speed of learning slowed significantly however, when he discovered that although he could speak Equestrian, reading and writing were a different matter. Glimmer not being put out by this development, took to learning him such basics without a pause, with a simple "Huh… that's unfortunate." as her only commentary.

From that day he practiced reading and writing with the scrolls and books from the older unicorn's small library.

In his routine, after the lessons with Glimmer came a late dinner. The time between dinner and supper Harry spent however he saw fit. Most of the time he practiced his magic and his reading, learned from Summer or her husband the customs of Equestrian ponies, helped around the house or kept an eye on Golden Harvest on her... adventures with her friends.

Harry spent almost two weeks following this schedule with little to no interruption…

* * *

If he was counting days correctly, it was his fifteenth day, when Harry woke up with the sunrise as it was now his habit. When he entered the living room, first thing he noticed was the grim looking older stallion.

"What's the matter Keeper?" He asked as he watched him from across the table.

"There is a storm coming Harry, you can see the clouds on the horizon. It's going to be a nasty one." There was a tone of resignation in the large earth pony's voice.

The gray unicorn looked at the other stallion, and then turned to the doors. He opened them, grabbing the door knob with his emerald magic, took a few steps outside and searched the horizon for the mentioned clouds. What he saw made his eyes grow wide. In the distance, the whole north-west skyline was covered in dark, massive clouds.

When he heard flapping of wings, he looked up to see the three resident pegasi, glancing worriedly at the storm front. By now Harry knew of the pegasi ability to control clouds and weather. According to the tales told him by Glimmer there was a time when pegasi held total control of the weather over ponies lands. But with Discord's, the Spirit of Chaos, rule their influence was diminished significantly and they were hard at work even to this day to regain it. It wasn't uncommon for rogue storms to appear, and the farther from capital the less control pegasi had over the skies.

So the danger this massive storm front posed was clear even to Harry. For one, he knew that thatch roofs could withstand only so much before being ripped apart. And thanks to working on the fields and listening to Summer's and Keeper's talks, knew that a heavy rain or even worse hail, could devastate the plants.

In his thoughts he didn't notice a young, cream colored pegasus with a vibrant blue mane that landed beside him.

"Hey there. Somber Blackmane, right?" The pegasi was shuffling nervously on her hooves. The mare's voice caused Harry's head to quickly turn to look at her.

"That's me, and who might you be and what can I do for you?" He answered with a resigned sigh. It would seem Glimmer was adamant about him sticking to the name she chose for him, going as far as apparently telling it to everypony. And he had a feeling where this was going, being one of the two unicorns in the village.

"I'm Wind Dancer, an unofficial leader of us pegasi in here." He had to admit, she was kind of good looking for a pony. She had a lithe figure, and her smooth shoulder length mane, with a permanently wind swept fringe was well kept. Wind Dancer sighed. "You saw the clouds… We can't tackle the storm of this size. I can fly to the capital to get help, but it's going to take me more than a day of flight at my top speed, hopefully. And the storm is going to hit the village before midnight, if not sooner. You could help."

"What do you want me to do?" Harry or Somber as most of the village now called him it would seem, asked with determination in his voice.

"I know that Glimmer isn't that powerful, she always says she's better with theory or whatever… But maybe you could shield the village for the duration of the storm? At least until help arrives." The cream colored mare almost begged, looking at him with those big, hopeful, dark green eyes.

"I will do it…" Because he had to be honest with himself, what guy… stallion, would not fall for such a look.

"Thank you!" Wind Dancer almost almost jumped up from happiness. Her grandfather was one of the first settlers, she couldn't bare the thought of her family's work being destroyed. In her excitement she leaned forward and quickly pecked him on his chin. "Well then… time for me to go…" She stammered with a blush.

The dark gray unicorn just nodded, dumbfounded. He watched her as she crouched down, stretched her wings, and then with one powerful flap she soared into the sky. The resulting gust of wind made his mane billow behind him for a few heartbeats.

As Harry watched her flying at speeds he thought impossible for pegasi, he lifted one of his hoofs to touch the place Wind Dancer so hastily kissed.

A boisterous laugh that sounded from behind him, pulled him out of his reverie, and this time made him truly jump up. When he turned around he found Keeper standing in the door frame grinning widely at him, still laughing quietly.

"Be careful Harry, or is it Somber?" The still grinning stallion began with humor in his voice. "Mares can do strange things to us stallions… I should know."

"Know what honey?" Summer's still sleepy voice sounded from within the house.

"Nothing, nothing dear." With a sigh Keeper turned around and walked inside, it was time to break the bad news to his wife. He stopped and shot a last look, before entering, at Somber. "Go to Glimmer, think something up to keep the village safe for as long as you two can."

Not having to be told twice, Harry galloped to Glimmer's house. According to Wind Dancer's words, they had the whole day to plan and prepare for the storm.

A few hours later, both Glimmer and Harry were working at the town's square. The stalls were moved out of the center and up to the walls of the houses. At the well, both unicorns were setting up a series of moderately sized stones in an even hexagonal pattern, with the well in the middle of the created shape. On the surface of the smooth stones, that the farmers often found just below the ground on the fields, Glimmer was carving short cantrips in a runic language that Harry had yet to learn. She told him however, that those were the basic protection and shield spells that every unicorn mage learns. The elder unicorn looked up from her work on the second to last stone, a chisel still in her magical grasp.

"That's quite good Somber, you have an eye for geometric shapes."

"Thank you. But are you sure this will work? It is a rather quickly put together plan…" Harry asked not even trying to correct Glimmer, when she spoke the name he was fighting hard not to use. Having said that, he looked around the town square, their activity garnered the attention of the whole village. It was only forty three ponies, but for him it counted as a crowd. And they were staring…

"Ignore them Somber, their just curious." The unicorn mare said, reading his tense body language. "And yes I have faith it will work. Seven is a magically powerful number after all, six ward stones with the well as the centerpiece. The water in it symbolising rejuvenation, but also flexibility and persistence. For a shield that must hold for hours against changing forces, its probably the best set up we can create here."

Not only Harry was listening with rapt attention. The other ponies, most of them for the first time in their lives, were looking curiously at the display of practical magic that was meant to shelter their homes during the storm.

"And done." Glimmer proclaimed after another quarter of an hour of working in silence. She looked up, at the dark gray unicorn that was now standing closer to her, looking at her work. "Now remember, I will cast the spell and provide the first few charges of magic for the shield, but its going to be you that will hold the shield the rest of the time. So shoo, go rest, take a nap. You will need it…"

Harry looked up, at the approaching clouds. If he had to guess they still had at least four hours before the storm hit them. The light of the setting sun, colored the clouds an angry purple making them look far more threatening than before.

"This is going to be a long night…" He sighed, walking towards Summer's house to take the suggested nap.

The next time he woke up, it was to the sound of a thunder. Harry jumped out of his bed and hurried outside. As he left the house, now illuminated only by a few candles and the fire if the fire pit, he walked into almost total darkness. He could hear the wind howling and the heavy droplets of rain hitting the light blue, swirling, magical dome shaped shield. In the middle he could make out the ward stones also glowing with the soft blue aura, Glimmer was laying near the well, occasionally discharging an arc of magic from her horn that hit the nearest stone, that in turn arced the energy to the neighboring stones, and so on, creating a crackling circle of light blue magical energy. An ethereal glow emanated from the well.

"It's working Somber, it really is working…" Summer whispered near him, but it was almost drowned out by the sound of the rain pounding on the magical barrier. Harry looked at her only to see her watching in equal parts fascinated and terrified at the raging storm behind the shield. The world was suddenly lit up by another lightning and the thunder was deafening, as it hit the shield, sending ripples through its surface.

Harry also watched and couldn't help but feel, that whatever was behind the storm's creation, was certainly more than natural. He couldn't remember in his life seeing a storm that powerful.

"You need to help her, Glimmer is close to her limit by the looks of it." Keeper said approaching him.

Not wasting any more time, Harry trotted over to the circle. The magic in the air causing a tingling sensation all over his body.

"Glimmer I'm here. What do I have to do?" Harry had to shout, as another lightning hit something close to the village. He saw her open her eyes and he could tell right away that she truly was tired and by looking at the grimace on her muzzle, probably also in pain.

"Reach for your magic, and focus on channeling it in short burst into one of the stones. Until at least close to half of the flow is not your magic, don't cross the line." Her voice was pained, he could only imagine what it was for her to be inside such maelstrom of magic, with her heightened magical sensitivity.

Doing as she said, the dark gray unicorn began to slowly add his emerald magic to the flow. After another thirty minutes or so, he was finally able to safely cross the magical flow. When he did it, his legs experienced a strong, almost painful prickling sensation.

Glimmer stood up, her legs shaking. But she exited the circle and immediately one of the other stallions in the village went to support her, as she slowly walked towards her house. Harry laid down, closed his eyes and focused on the magic within and around him.

It was probably late in the morning, and the storm still stubbornly circled Trottingham. Now that Harry was focused for hours, he could definitely feel some kind of chaotic energy permeating the storm clouds.

Then his focus almost broke, as his senses were assaulted by a gigantic surge in the magical energies above the village. He could see a bright flash of light and heard a tremendous crack, that sounded almost like apparition. Following that there were gasp of awe, and then a cheer from the ponies on the Trottingham square.

When Harry opened his eyes and looked up, he almost lost concentracion again. Above the village hovered the most majestic being he ever saw. She, he was quite certain that it as a mare, was pure white and decidedly larger than surrounding her pegasi. Her mane looked like the sunrise horizon as did her tail. Both glowed with ethereal light, waving and flowing majestically. The golden plate armor she wore, glowed with inscribed on it cantrips. The heavy white cloak with golden trimmings billowed in the wind behind her.

Accompanying her were at least thirty pegasi in light, golden armor. Their armors were only a chest piece and a helmet. The chest pieces were made from many segments as to not impede movement. The helmets were angular, with something that looked like two horns. But when he looked closer, Harry saw that the horns were actually shaped like lightning bolts. The rest of their bodies was covered in what looked like leather armor that was dyed blue.

"Princess Celestia!" Somepony shouted and again a cheer rose.

In the meantime, Harry saw the Princess preparing a spell. When she finally cast it, he could hardly comprehend what he was seeing. A ring of white light almost too bright too look at, burst forth from her horn, vaporizing the clouds as it expanded, and purging the chaotic energies from the sky. Instantly the pegasi she brought with her bagan, at amazing speeds, herding and shaping white puffy clouds, that reformed inside the circle of still expanding light.

For the first time in what felt like ages, sunlight illuminated the village. Harry sighed with relief, he was not too exhausted, but the strain of remaining constantly focused was beginning to get to him. He stopped the flow of magic. The shield quivered, and then began to slowly disappear in a shower of emerald sparks.

Slowly he stood up, his muscles protesting after lying unmoving for so long. He felt a hoof on his shoulder, it was Keeper.

"We all owe you our gratitude. You saved our village."

He was not the only one to thank him, everypony slowly went to shake his hoof or pat him on the shoulder and congratulate him. Harry kept smiling all the time. Finally something in his life that he did right all the way through.

When somepony clear their throat behind him, he turned around. Only to came face to face with the golden clad Princess. Her white cloak was now covering her back and hindquarters. Now he could also see the tiara that marked here as a royalty.

"We believe, that you are the pony that shielded the town until we arrived with our troops, yes?" Harry cringed at the volume with which the Princess spoke, however her speech was all he could expect from a royalty. Soft but in the same time confident. "What is your name my pony?"

"Somber Blackmane." Harry from now on know as Somber said with a tired smile, he really had no will in himself left to fight a lost cause, which was his new name given to him by Glimmer. "But it's hardly only my doing, your highness. I had help of another unicorn, Glimmer is her name."

"Ah, a modest one." Celestia smiled slightly. "Do you plan on visiting our fine city?"

"In a few months, your highness." Somber answered politely.

"Then we shall await your arrival, a pony with such power is destined for great things..." The white alicorn took a step forward and placed her golden clad hoof on his shoulder, as she smiled at him. "And you Somber Blackmane, we shall watch your progress with great interest."

With those words the princes flared open her wings, then Somber remembered something important.

"Your highness, what happened to Wind Dancer?"

"Ah, the messenger. She sprained her wings in her haste, and will spend the next few weeks grounded under the care of our healers." Celestia looked around, at the gathered ponies. "If that's all, we shall leave. Some of our troops will remain behind to take care of the remaining clouds. Farewell my ponies." After those words she took flight, almost half of her pegasi flocked to her and then they all disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

For the rest of the ponies, that day resolved around assessing the damage done to their fields and the orchard. As it turned out, majority of their crops were easily salvageable with enough care. The orchard was hit the hardest, so that meant less fruits for the next year, but they could live with that.

As to Somber… While he recovered from sustaining the shield, he couldn't help but ponder Celestia's words. Also oddly enough thoughts about Wind Dancer took a lot of his free time. Was it possible that he developed a crush? On a pony of all things? Obviously that thought alone confused him…

And so the life in Trottingham returned to an almost boring normality in the span of the next few days, for all but one pony in the village that had too much to think about.

* * *

Three weeks after the storm, at a family dinner, Summer finally broached the subject of selling the extra grain from the first harvest, so that it would not waste. The autumn was coming and even if they had to use it as emergency food in the coming winter, they still had far too much of it.

"You think you can handle this Somber?" Keeper asked looking at the unicorn.

"I think that's going to be easier than powering that shield three weeks ago…" Somber said with a small smile. "And I really need to get out of the village for a few days."

That statement brought embarrassed smiles to the muzzles of the earth pony family. A week after the storm the ponies in the village decided to honor him, Glimmer and Princess Celestia by building a small shrine around the well. The elder unicorn, having recovered from her ordeal, immediately loved the idea. She paid for the majority of materials.

And so now, the well and a small circle around it was made from marble. With the six ward stones now laying atop small pillars. There was a small plaquet with their names, meaning his, Glimmer's, Wind Dancer's and Celestia's and an inscription: "_In the year 214 After Discord, those ponies stopped a chaos storm from leveling the village of Trottingham_."

It was not much, but for Somber it was too much anyway. He hated attention.

"We will prepare the grain then… I think we have some sacks laying around, there's going to be at least… eight of them." Summer said with a thoughtful look on her muzzle.

"Can I go with you uncle Somber? Please?" Golden Harvest asked in whiny voice, looking between her parents and said dark gray unicorn. That was also another thing that changed. With him living with the family for five weeks now, the filly grew attached to him. When she first called him uncle, he was dumbstruck. However when he saw that Keeper and Summer didn't have anything against their filly calling him that, he accepted it with a smile.

In the end, with reluctance, the aults bowed to the filly's demand as she pestered them about it all day long. When they finally agreed Golden wore a broad grin and walked with head held high, proud of her victory.

In the early morning of the day after their discussion, a covered wagon was packed with sacks of grain. Surprisingly, or maybe not so, another two ponies prepared their own carts when they saw Somber's preparations. One was a burly, green coated, black maned stallion that was the local blacksmith, second was a mare with a smaller cart full of cherries. She had a red mane with a white stripe in it and her coat was a delicate yellow color.

"It's safer to travel in groups. You never know what may happen on the road." The stallion that by now Somber knew was called Iron Hoof said to him, as he approached to shake hoofs. "Especially, if you take the squirt with you…" Iron grinned saying that.

"Heeey!" Golden protested form atop the wagon's bench.

"Oh it's going to be such an adventure!" The red maned mare, Cherry Blossom, added her own excited thoughts to the talk. Everypony knew that Cherry was especially easily riled up for anything she considered adventurous. That's why she was most of the time keeping an eye on the young ones, she had almost as boundless energy as they had.

"You sure you can handle that wagon of yours?" Iron asked, as he looked at the wagon and then at Somber with a bit of doubt.

"Being unicorn doesn't mean I can't pull it." With those worde the dark gray unicorn buckled up to the wagon and gave it an experimental pull. The wooden wheels moved and Somber nodded, it wasn't that bad. Even Iron gave an approving nod.

That day marked the beginning of week long journey around the neighboring towns. Somber underestimated how the wagon would slow him down, or that sometimes he would just have to wait until the next morning to bargain with the different mill owners.

For his shame, Somber was happy when Cherry didn't continue her travel beyond the first town of Grassgow, admittedly the biggest of the three towns in a reasonable distance for him to travel with the wagon. In small doses the mare was a great pony, but over the first two days on the road, she began to annoy him. At least Golden had a blast with the red maned mare. Iron Hoof opted to stay in the town for a few days.

"Search for a pony going your way Somber, I just heard in the inn that there is a bandit group lurking around." The news disgruntled both stallions. It was rare for ponies to take up bandit lifestyle, but it did happen. Mostly in the areas near the border of the kingdom.

Ponychester, was a disappointment to him. The town's mill owner was a greedy bastard, that didn't even try to bargain. If it wasn't for Golden Harvest he could have vented his frustration aloud, but with the filly nearby, he just simmered in his anger until he got it under control on the road. Pulling a wagon was a mind numbing experience, that at least let him forget about most his concerns or annoyances.

Good fortune returned to him in the last town he visited. The owner of mill in the Oldhay was a really pleasant pony to be around. The two of them, Somber and Golden, even got invited to dinner. It was the end of fifth day of their journey, when they left Oldhay with their wagon empty and with a pouch heavy with golden bits.

They were traveling south, the town disappeared behind them a few hours ago. The midday sky was mostly cloudless, only a few white, puffy clouds drifted lazily in the delicate wind. Golden pranced around him humming some nonsensical, happy tune.

Sombra looked at the forest they were about to enter. The hardened dirt road from Oldhay to Trottingham was relatively new, or so he heard.

"Hey uncle, who are they?" Golden asked pointing a hoof at a five figures standing on the road.

Suddenly alert, the dark gray unicorn looked around him. As expected a lone pegasus pony was blocking the road behind them.

"Trouble. Stay close to me Golden." When he said that, he saw the group of five cloaked ponies approaching them, four held long daggers in their mouths.

"Well hello there traveler. And hello filly." The stallion in the middle said with a way too cheery voice. "A fine day it is for traveling, and it will stay that way if you would… shall we say, pay a fee for... crossing this woods." One of his comrades snorted in amusement at those words.

"And if I say no?" Somber said with a cold, hard voice, that he wasn't certain from where it came. Maybe because not only he was in danger?

"Now, now… We wouldn't want for you or the filly to suffer an... accident on the road. Now would we? Timberwolves are rather common here, and they always leave a bloody mess..." A sinister glint appeared in the apparent leader's blue eyes, his comrades moving apart to flank him.

Somber sighed, they were all earth ponies, with the exception of that one pegasus.

"Are you serious?" The dark gray unicorn replayed with contempt and sighed. His emerald magic surged forward grabbing the daggers and yanking them from their mouths, some of them lost a tooth or two from the forceful pull. He turned the blades and levitated them to the throats of the now terrified ponies. "Now then, I propose a different kind of deal…"

He didn't have time to finish as he heard, more than saw the incoming pegasus. The wing tips of the pegasus brushed his side and then the forest was pierced by Golden's shrill scream. Not thinking, Somber launched one of the daggers at the foalnapper. There was a second scream, and the pegasus crashed into one of the trees, with the dagger embedded to the hilt in the winged ponies flank. In the commotion, rest of the group fled into the forest.

Somber unbuckled himself from the wagon and raced towards the downed pegasus. Golden squirmed from under the pegasus unmoving body. She was crying and looking with wide, terrified eyes around herself jerkily. He quickly hugged her.

"It's alright now. Come on, everything is going to be fine…" He was at a loss as to what exactly he should say to the upset filly. But he knew one thing for certain. "We can't stay here Golden." He whispered to her, as she began to quiet down.

Without wasting any more time, he helped her get into the wagon, quickly buckled himself up to it again and began to pull it a brisk trot. Luckily, they got out of the forest soon enough without any more trouble. Now it was just a matter of crossing the plains.

* * *

Two days after they returned, word got around about how he defended Golden Harvest. It was mostly due to Summer and Keeper keeping thanking him, and telling everypony willing to listen how brave he was.

That of course got him even more attention, but he began to slowly accept it as a result of his own actions. Compared to the attention gained by something he didn't even remember doing and which cost him his parents, it was a welcomed change.

"I swear by Celestia… Trouble is attracted to you, like a moth is attracted to a flame." Having said that, Glimmer was all too eager to step up their lessons intensity, when she heard of his latest misadventure.

The most surprising development was finding out that Wind Dancer has returned, while he was away. It wouldn't have been so shocking for Somber, if it weren't for the fact that the lithe pegasus mare decided to spend a lot of hers time with him. He suspected that she developed a crush, but he was still conflicted about creating any deep bonds with ponies in this world. Bonds he knew some day would have to be broken… So for the time being, he didn't allow things between them to escalate further than friendly banter.

* * *

Two weeks later the village was preparing for a celebration, as that day was the day of autumn equinox. Somber overlooked the preparation of the tables and the bonfires. After two months of living in Trottingham, he now had a lithe figure, and even grew a bit taller. His mane and tail have also grown, while still being uncontrollable giving him almost a wild appearance. The most striking feature were his eyes however, now almost glowing with hidden power.

Glimmer was running out of material to teach him, and he knew that his life in this quiet town was slowly coming to an end. For some time now he often wondered, if it wasn't better to just stay here. But he knew he couldn't. He had promises to keep and people to protect at Hogwarts, and sadly he knew that he would not find a way back to his home world in this village.

A tickling of a feather on his flank, brought him out of his musings. Somber turned his head to his right only to be greeted by a pair of dark green eyes. With great reluctance, a few days earlier he… showed Wind Dancer his consent to go a bit further in their odd relationship. For now they never moved past simple gestures, and the occasional snuggle.

"This is going to be a great party." She said, nuzzling his neck in greeting.

"You know it will be, with Cherry planning it." He answered hugging, but then he took a step back. The dark gray unicorn could see the slight disappointment in her eyes, mixed with growing frustration. But they kept talking about unimportant things, as if everything was alright.

By the time the celebration was set up, the tables were filled with fruits, vegetables and many dishes and desserts made out of them.

When the celebration started at dusk, they entertained himself with singing, telling of tales and three ponies even provided music with a flute, drum and a harf. The adults also indulged in hard cider that Iron Hoof managed to buy in Oldhay.

Somber was having the time of his life, with fillies and colts listening with rapt attention to his tales, about a unicorn colt that just discovered his magic and his adventures in a magical school. From the corner of his eye, he saw Wind Dancer, living up to her name. Her moves were gracious and almost sensual, and her dancing with one of the bonfires in the background moved him in a way he couldn't describe. For a moment he lost interest in anything else, not realizing he stopped his tale mid sentence.

Then he felt a pair of hooves on his back. He looked behind him only to see a grinning Golden, and a few other young fillies giggling behind her. The colts on the other hoof were nowhere to be found.

"Oh, I'm sorry Golden… where was I…" He was not going to admit to the filly he was staring at Wind Dancer.

"Just go dance with her uncle Somber… Sheesh, everypony in the village knows she fancies you." Golden's blunt words made his jaw drop, and the fillies giggled louder as he felt himself blushing. The resolute filly butted her head into his back to make him move.

"Alright, alright…" He muttered standing up, and firstly walked towards one the barrels of the hard cider. Somber knew that it was a bad idea, but he had no courage to join the cream colored mare in the dance. He drank one of the mugs in hasty gulps, and then moved toward the sensually moving mare, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

Somber was unaware that most of the gathered ponies were watching him, as he come up to Wind Dancer, and matched her moves, which resulted in the most passionate dance some of the villagers witnessed in their lives, some even blushed looking at the pair as they danced with their bodies pressed together. Of course bits changed owners, as bets were lost or won…

The party lasted until the moon was at its highest, and everypony was either too drunk or tired to notice a pair of ponies heading toward Wind Dancer's house. And those that cared, and saw, knew that it was going to be special night for those two...

* * *

**AN: **Look at that, another chapter! Time skips... a necessary evil but I hope it's still enjoyable to read. Also this chapter was just going, and going, and going... I had to stop it somewhere. Anyhow I plan only one more chapter in lets call it "Arrival" arc of this story, which I will probably publish later next week. Until then, R&R!


	4. The Origin: Part 4

**Disclaimer: **Still holds... and I own nothing you recognize.

* * *

**The Origin: Part 4  
**

* * *

When Somber began to slowly wake up, the first thing he noticed was the warmth of another body against his chest and belly. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the blue mane. Looking a bit down he could see Wind Dancer with her head nestled against his chest, her warm, steady breathing felt slightly tickling against his coat. For a second his mind began to panic, then the memories of the previous night returned to him.

The celebration of autumn equinox, his story telling… the dance with Wind Dancer. Then his memories began to blur somewhat, probably he drank too much. However his memories gained clarity when he thought about where he was, and who was sleeping in his embrace.

His late night activities with the cream colored pegasus sent his mind into another panic attack, as Somber tried to grasp the idea of his… first time being with a pony. His pony body and ex-human mind were at odds in that matter. For some time now he believed that he had come to terms with being a pony… but now it became obvious that he still had some issues.

"Somepony's thinking hard…" A husky whisper followed by Wind Dancer nibbling his ear, startled the dark gray unicorn out of his thoughts. Somber couldn't hold back the goofy grin that appeared on his muzzle.

"I'm probably overthinking some things…" He answered nuzzling her neck. His panic attack interrupted, Somber decided to just enjoy himself for once in his life.

Two hours later, when the sun was already high in the sky, Somber found himself sitting at a small porch Wind Dancer's house had. He was observing ponies finishing cleaning after the party and setting up their usual stalls. Everypony that passed by, greeted him with a smile and a wave, and he responded in kind. The spirits in Trottingham were high after the party, and the mostly cloud free and still warm autumn day probably helped.

When he heard hoofsteps coming from the inside of the house, he turned his head around to look at the lithe mare that walked towards him with a fruit bowl held with her wings. Wind put the bowl down before him, when she sat at his side and leaned against him.

"You know that I can't stay here in Trottingham, right?" Somber asked quietly after he ate an apple, sharing bits of the juicy fruit with Wind Dancer. He felt the mare shift a bit against his side. When he turned his head to his right, he came nose to nose with her.

"I understand that." When she spoke their noses rubbed against each other, making him smile a bit sadly at the thought of leaving her. "But… Nopony said I can't travel with you silly." Wind finished with a quick kiss.

"Wait… What?" Somber blinked rapidly before he leaned back and rubbed his forehead with his hoof. "Well, if you want to you can… But are you sure? This is your home you plan on leaving."

"It's not like I have too much to leave behind." Wind Dancer admitted with a bit of sadness in her voice. "Also, if I… if we plan on doing it… I would join you after a few weeks, by the time you will hopefully find a place for us to stay and a way to earn a few bits." She turned her nose up at the end, when she used her best posh tone, a large grin was spread on her muzzle.

Somber chuckled lightly and shook his head. After the last two weeks they spent together he was used to her antics, but he still couldn't understand her mood swings sometimes. Anyhow he played along, taking a step back and mock bowing before her.

"As my lady wishes." He was rewarded with a bout of giggles.

They ate some more fruits and after that went to do their daily chores. For Wind Dancer it was patrolling the sky around the village, for Somber it meant helping Keeper and Summer at the fields.

When he reached the fields, he quickly spotted the two earth ponies and approached them. Keeper noticed him first.

"Well hello there Somber." The burly earth pony said with a mischievous grin. "For a moment I was worried that you got lost in Wind Dancer's bed." Keeper laughed when he saw the other stallion blush fiercely.

"Keeper!" Summer looked up sharply at her husband. However she too had a small smile on her muzzle when she turned around to look at the dark gray unicorn. "Forgive him Somber, I think that not all of the hard cider he drank… flushed out of him."

"It's alright Summer." Somber stammered slightly, warily watching the earth pony stallion, waiting for him to drop another comment about his last night. "Well there is one thing we should really talk about… Me and Wind Dancer…" He almost stopped when he saw the light brown coated stallion raise an eyebrow in half questioning, half humorous way. "It's just that, well… after some thinking we decided that from now on I should live with Wind Dancer."

Keeper was opening his mouth to say something, but then he noticed Summer glaring at him.

"What? I just wanted to say that it's his life and he can do whatever he wants."

"That's… Good then." Summer said slowly. "And Keeper is right, it is your life Somber."

The dark gray unicorn felt surprisingly touched by their words.

"I still plan on helping you, you know. Otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with myself…" Somber said with a smile on his muzzle. He knew that they wouldn't have anything against him moving out, but he felt that much better now that it was kind of official and they approved.

"Then you're more than welcome to help." Keeper, now with a more serious demeanor, walked towards him and slapped him on the shoulder, making Somber stumble. "Now then, that the brake is over we have a field to plow and this one to inspect…"

During their work, the trio, or mostly the more experienced couple talked about their relationship making the dark gray unicorn blush many times…

* * *

He was sitting near the stream that flowed not a half an hour of a trot behind the village. Glimmer was laying on a blanket, and was covered with another one she brought with herself to ward of the morning chill that lately dominated the mornings. But that was the way things were, five weeks after the autumn equinox.

With critical eye she was observing her student performing the hardest exercise she could came up with. Holding up multiple spheres of water, in varying sizes. The smallest one was apple sized while in the largest, Iron Hoof could have bathed easily.

"Very good, there are only small ripples on the surfaces this time." She said with pride in her voice. She had introduced him to this exercise almost two months ago, and right now he was ahead of any average unicorn, if one compared them after those two months. "You can let go now."

With a weary sigh, followed by five splashes of the cold water, Somber looked at the older unicorn.

"It's still hard to keep myself so focused."

"I would be surprised if it wasn't." The older unicorn stood up, an action that was accompanied by several of her joints popping. She grimaced. "Winter will be starting early this year, I can just feel it in my bones…"

For almost a week now Somber knew that Glimmer was avoiding a certain topic in their conversation. This water sphere exercise, was lately the only one he had been doing. He had read through majority of the older's unicorn small library, even copied some of the books… And it was no small achievement, requiring him to copy the book word after word. The speed of the process just depending on his ability to focus, on reading and writing with a quill held in his magic at the same time.

He knew that he had learned everything Glimmer had to offer. And she was stalling.

Somber didn't hold that against the older unicorn. With each passing week of his life with Wind Dancer, making the decision to travel to the capital was harder to make. However he had a late night talk with his marefriend about it, that just left Glimmer and Summer's family, the other four ponies he felt close to in this world.

"Glimmer." He said to get her attention, as she was folding her blankets. That meant they were ending for today, far sooner than any other times.

"I know Somber…" She responded after some time, with the folded blankets resting on her back. "It's time for you to go, if you still want to." She finished with a small, sad smile.

"You know I need to." He answered falling in step beside her, on their slow return trip to the village.

"Then listen well Somber." Glimmer began talking, not really looking at him. "Everfree City is far different from our village. And I don't mean the obvious things like size." Her eyes narrowed. "If you step on the wrong pony's hooves, they could make your life very difficult. But it's the political heart of the Kingdom, one couldn't expect any less there I think..."

"So on who should I watch out? Nobles?" Somber in his time in Trottingham heard quite a few stories of vindictive, young noble families that sought out power and influence.

"Them but not only." She looked at him briefly. "Tell me, you saw Princess Celestia weeks ago, what do you think of her? Of the Alicorn that controls our Sun?"

The strange question made him stop and look at her with narrowed eyes.

"That she was the most magnificent and powerful being I have ever seen. But what does that have to do with anything?" He decided to tell the truth.

"Everything. For over two hundred years now, ponies looked up to the Royal Sisters, writing down their deeds, forming opinions… and legends." Glimmer now too stopped and turned to face him. "That inevitably lead to forming of cults. The worst thing is that the Princesses didn't discourage them. When I was leaving the city more than ten years ago, grand temples of both Day and Night were being finished, I shudder at the thought of how much influence the so called priests have now." The older unicorn looked quite sour while she talked.

"If such cults exists, how come I didn't see any signs of it in the village?" Somber's head was spinning with the news. So it would seem that this world even had something like religion…

"Trottingham, like all new villages is poor, as such no 'priests' come by. Not yet at least. But given enough time there probably will be shrines build in honor of the Royal Sisters, and some naive novices will be sent over to watch over them." She shrugged. "And besides, all of us here have a lot of other things on their heads. However I'm sure that if you ask around you will find, that all of the ponies in the village have some small token of their faith in Celestia. Especially after that storm…"

He was intrigued to such a point that he did as Glimmer told him. He asked Wind Dancer first, and she surprised him, showing him a small pendant made from false gold, shaped like the sun.

"Why do you not wear it then?"

"I would have lost it, with all the flying I do a long time ago. And it's too precious to me. It was my mother's, you know?" Wind Dancer said, putting the small pedant back inside a small wooden box.

That alone was enough for him to know that Glimmer was right. But what he didn't found was far more surprising, as only a few ponies had any token of their faith in Princess Luna... That only brought to his mind more troubling thoughts. What would he find in the capital? For the first time in weeks, he didn't sleep well as a long forgotten nightmare about his godfather dying in the Department of Mysteries returned to haunt him.

* * *

The following two days were rather stressful for Somber. It was not that he had so much to pack, but rather that he had to leave the village behind. And even the knowledge that Wind Dancer will be joining him in the following weeks wasn't as comforting as he thought it would be.

It was now late morning, and beside Wind Dancer, Glimmer, Summer, Keeper and young Golden more than a dozen other ponies was standing before him, to say their goodbyes. Golden Harvest was especially emotional, as she was hugging his leg.

"But you will write to us, right?" The filly asked looking up.

"Of course Golden, how could I not?" Somber answered petting Golden's head, and delicately prying the filly from his leg. When he freed his leg, he was assaulted by a creamy streak of colour with blue mane… again. "Wind, I'm not leaving you for good and you know it." He whispered into his marefriend's ear.

"I know, I know… It's just it will be a few weeks before we see each other again…"

He kissed her briefly, before letting her out of his embrace.

"I really should get going, it's a long way to Everfree." At the beginning he thought that he could make it to the capital in a few days, what with Wind Dancer reaching it in just over a day. But then he realized that by hoof at a moderate speed, it would take him more than a week. Possibly longer, if he stopped for longer breaks in other villages and cities. Wind admitted that she only made it in such a time at great cost to her health, of which everypony knew, and because she was quite the gifted pegasus when it came to flight.

He looked at the assembled ponies before him, and smiled. At least he was happy for a time, with a simple life. Somber put his traveling packs on his back, with a few of his copied books and some golden bits, along with some bread with fruits. He also had a water skin, which was a rarity but still affordable.

The dark gray unicorn turned around, and slowly began to walk away. Nopony said anything, as they all said their goodbyes earlier.

* * *

Somber's first major break was in Ponychester. He still had some bad memories regarding the mill owner, but when he took some time to look around he found the small town quite enjoyable as it was growing into a trading center for this part of the kingdom. When the cold rain began to fall, he was glad that he was in still inside the borders of the town, as he made a short detour to the local sew mistress to buy a heavy, black hooded cloak. He paid almost a third of his bits for it, as it was enchanted to be waterproof and somewhat warmer, but he didn't regret it.

In the coming days his new hooded cloak turned out to be invaluable as it was drizzling almost every day for hours, if not the whole day. However the roads turned muddy, making traveling that much harder.

During his fifth day on the road he came across a wrecked covered wagon at the side of the road. The sky was mostly clear and it didn't rain that day so he immediately knew that whatever happened here was recent, as the traces of fighting could still be seen.

Alerted and seeing nopony around he hastily trotted forward. He decided not to sleep in the open that night and just continued his trot towards the capital in the moonlight.

However when the next night came, and he found himself in a forest, and unable to go another night without sleep. He found a small grove with a large, hollowed, fallen tree. When he kaud down inside the slightly rotten tree trunk, he immediately fell asleep not minding the occasional bug crawling around.

He was having one of his more pleasant dreams about flying under the star filled night sky, with the full moon shining brightly.

"_Wake up…_" There was a serene voice carried by the wind. "_Wake up._" He looked around trying to find the source of the heavenly voice. "_Wake up or die!_"

With a shudder and a gasp Somber woke up inside the tree trunk.

"Hey listen, did you hear that?" A stallions quiet voice asked, but in the middle of the night it could have been a shout.

"No brother, you're sure the pony you followed is somewhere around here?" Another voice this time a mare's, but cold and full of malice.

Doing some quick thinking, Somber cast on himself a basic illusion spell that made his coat's color and whatever was on him blend in with his surroundings. And it was just in time as he saw two figures moving in front of the opening.

"Nopony's here… Damn, we missed another one. Sorry Cinder." It was the stallion.

"Eh, no matter there will be another chance soon enough, come on." The now named Cinder answered, and Somber heard two sets of hooves moving away from his tree trunk.

Knowing that he would not get any more sleep in this place this night, Somber grudgingly returned to the road and began walking, all the time thinking about the voice he heard in his dream that probably saved his life…

In the afternoon of that day, the dark gray unicorn saw the first signs of approaching the Everfree city. Ahead of him he saw several ponies working on paving the road with stone slabs, around him he began seeing fields of wheat and other vegetables along with lone houses. In the distance, to his right he could see the border of a dense forest

Not an hour later he saw the first armed patrol. They were earth ponies and pegasi in chainmail armor, with swords or some with spears. He could see that their chest pieces had a crest resembling a massive tree. They looked at him suspiciously and even stopped him to ask a few questions but allowed him to move along.

When he first saw the Everfree City he was amazed. It was created on top of a hill, and had a river running through it, if he wasn't mistaken. He could see a massive wall surrounding what he guessed was the oldest part of the city, but now there were too many houses too count build outside of the stone wall. As he approached he saw that they were made mostly out of wood, some were made out of stone. The closer to the wall he got the better were the houses, they even began to have a second floor. However every roof was covered with thatch.

The city's narrow, cobbled streets were packed with ponies milling around. Some of the building's he realized were in fact proper stores or inns, and some were just magazines.

He realized that in the whole city, there had to be thousands of ponies living, majority of them living outside of the wall.

Near the inner city's gate there was a large square with two massive two stories high, stone buildings. They were simple in design. But he could see that they had a massive walled of backyards.

"Excuse me, but what are those?" Somber asked somepony.

"Those? City and land guard's barracks and administration, why? You need help from them?"

"No, no… just curious."

After that brief talk he continued his walk, entering the inner city. Inside the wall, it was almost a different city. Every building was two stories high, decorated and painted with small front yards. The streets were wider and cleaner.

When he reached the first larger square on his left he saw a massive, C-shaped three stories high building built from white marble that looked like some kind of school, it even had it's own clock tower with a sundial. At least he didn't have to ask what it was as the words carved in a stone arch above a massive set of double doors said it all. "Academy of Magical Arts."

Deeper in the city he also found the building of the Royal Archives, built in similar fashion to the Academy.

When he reached what looked like the central square, he was once again amazed. Before him at the crest of the hill he could make out a massive castle with a bridge over the river leading to it. On his right and left there were what he supposed were the temples Glimmer told him about.

To his left, was one made from white marble with rows of slim columns on the outside that had golden inlays that depicted the sun, or Princess Celestia. In front of it stood a row of brightly burning braziers. He could see ponies in white robes with golden trimmings and clasps moving around. It brought to him the images of old Greek temples, or at least what he glimpsed they looked like.

On his right was a temple made from black marble, with onyx and silver inlays that depicted the moon, stars and who he knew to be Princess Luna. It was built in similar fashion but instead of braziers it had a row of obelisks made from highly polished obsidian, with silver runic cantrips engraved into them.

The 'priests' also were far different.

While the Celestial ones were running here and there attending to the temples guests, the Lunar ones wearing their black robes trimmed with silver, with their hoods hiding their muzzles waited silently and observed from the shadows until someone approached them. Which didn't happen often seeing as the Celestial Temple garnered far more attention.

So it almost made him jump, when one of the black robed ponies seemed to materialize beside him.

"Yes, can I help you?" Somber asked cautiously and maybe even a bit coldly, but the robed pony didn't seem to mind.

"Maybe. However I see you are tired from your's journey traveller, come. We have spare rooms for ponies like you, those in need." The Lunar priest's voice was polite and cultured, Somber guessed he had to be a noble.

"Not to offend you, but how come you know I'm… 'In need'?"

"Our goddess spoke with our Soothsayer, she predicted your arrival. Just as she saved your life." The robed pony leaned a bit forward and whispered the last part, trying to sound mysterious… But to the dark gray unicorn he sounded only a bit creepy. Nonetheless the last part got him interested, maybe it was Princess Luna that woke him up in that grove? She was the Princess of the Night, who was to say she couldn't invade dreams?

That thought brought him to a sudden stop. If she could… Then she knew of his origins. That demanded a bit of investigation in his opinion.

Besides, didn't Princess Celestia herself told him she would be watching his progres? Maybe it was time to make a visit in the castle. He raised his gaze, to look at the castle in the setting sun. Not today then, he sighed.

"Very well then, show me that room… I will not lie, it was a tiring journey."

"Follow me then, and cover your muzzle my friend. At the Lunar temple we value privacy and secrecy."

Somber followed his guide through the squire filled with ponies, walking towards the Lunar Temple and possibly the first night of good night's sleep in days.

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**AN: **Well then, here you go! Another chapter done. This one... I wanted to put so much more into it, but I realized that a wall of text could be a bit terrifying to you, my readers. Mostly I wanted to use this chapter for setting up the stage for major things in the future, so for those that like conspiracy theories and the likes... This chapter should give you plenty of material to work with. R&R!


	5. The Origin: Part 5

**Disclaimer: **Nope... I still own nothing you recognize...

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**The Origin: Part 5**

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When he woke up, for a moment he didn't remember where he was. However after looking at the almost bare room basked in a soft blue light and the heavy, black curtains that covered the small window… the memories of his week long journey and his arrival at the Canterlot City came back to him. Somber had to admit, that was his best night sleep in about a week.

Still feeling a bit sleepy, he got out of his bed. He made his way towards the small dresser near the door, which for now was holding all of his belongings. On it was a wooden bowl filled with water, that he promptly used to freshen himself up. And he did it just in time, as somepony knocked gently at his room's door. Quickly putting on his traveling black cloak and pulling the hood up, he opened the door with his emerald colored magic.

Outside, in the short corridor that had six doors in it and was lighted by the same soft blue light, coming from charmed crystal shards, stood a pony clad in the simple, black hooded robes with silver trimmings of a Night Priest.

"I was told to show you the way to the dining hall, that is… if you would like to eat something." A shy mare's voice with a strange accent sounded from beneath the hood obscuring her muzzle. His stomach rumbled, giving her the answer. Somber laughed quietly, embarrassed. "Well then, follow me."

His guide lead him through the small corridors of the living section of the Temple of the Night, as he was told it was called. As it turned out the kitchens and the main dining hall were in the basement, conveniently placed next to a rather large wine cellar.

Before Somber and his guide entered, she stopped him.

"Please remember, that the temple grounds are a sanctuary to anypony worshiping our goddess. That means no fighting or killing obviously, even if you met somepony you want revenge on." Her voice became far more serious than any other times she spoke.

"I don't think I have enemies in this kingdom, but I will remember the rule." The dark gray unicorn said, just now thinking about what kind of shady folk he will encounter in the room behind the double doors. The priests didn't make it a big secret about the Temple being a sanctuary to those who indulge in… certain night activities, a pony just had to just ask the right questions. However when he witnessed the city guards forbidden from entering with a warrant of arrest for somepony, not long after crossing the Temple's threshold… that was a major give away.

"You don't have enemies yet, my friend, not yet…" Her quiet and ominous comment made him frown, but Somber sighed when he realized she probably was right.

When the doors were pushed open by his guide, he was almost blinded by the bright and warm light from the large fireplace, in addition to the sun light that flowed through small and narrow windows near the ceiling. In the middle of the quite large room stood a long table, with benches on either side. Only about a quarter of the space at the table was occupied, by a total of eleven cloaked ponies. That surprisingly had their hoods down.

"You can pull the hood down here, it would be kind of impractical to eat with them covering our muzzles…"

When Somber turned to look at her he saw a pale red, slender unicorn mare's muzzle. She had long, slightly curly, amber colored mane and stunning blue eyes. For a moment he just stared at her, until he shook his head and thought about Wind Dancer.

"You certainly stopped drooling at my sight faster than most of the stallions at the table, when they first saw me." She smiled slyly and then pointed with her head at the table. "Come on then, lets join the misfits."

When they approached the occupied end of the table, that was farthest from the doors and closest to the fireplace, Somber now could clearly hear one the stallions talking…

"... And then he was all like 'You'll pay for this you son of a mule!'. I hadn't run that fast since… last week?" He was a skinny, rusty red stallion with a short, black and shaggy mane that probably wasn't washed in weeks. In Somber's opinion the shallow cheeks, and slight shadows under his grey eyes only added to his sickly appearance. Then he looked at him excitedly. "Oh, a newcomer!"

That prompted every other pony at the table to look at him. Now that Somber was stared at, and he stared back, he clearly saw that everypony at the table wasn't looking like life was good to them, also they all had a certain tension about them that didn't truly leave them even in this seemingly relaxing setting.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce our guest Bella?" The pony asking was sitting at the head of the table, wearing far more embroidered Night Priest's robes. He was and older pegasus, as his robes had a slight bulge at his midsection. His coat was black, speckled with gray hairs showing his age. His mane was dark gray and shortly cut.

"He didn't say his name Your Eminency and I didn't ask." Bella answered sitting opposite to the rusty red stallion.

Somber almost took a step back when the intense gaze of the older pegasus caught his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by a raised hoof from the pegasus.

"Don't worry, you don't have to tell us your name, if you don't want to. We will understand."

"But how can I welcome him properly to the family, if he doesn't tell us his name?" It was the sickly looking stallion again, but now he was gesticulating wildly in Somber's direction.

In the meantime, when he was ensured that everything was fine, Somber sat to the left of his guide, Bella. Again it was the older pegasus that answered.

"I'm sure he isn't going to become as frequent guest of our Temple, that we have to set him up with his own room, like you Silvertongue." The name of the stallion was spoken with such irony but also strangely enough fondness, that only a def pony would have missed it.

Somepony snorted with ill concealed amusement. Somber just looked at Bella and raised an eyebrow in silent question.

"Don't listen to the loudmouth, his stories are mostly either exaggerated or wholly false."

The dark gray unicorn didn't quite know what to say to that, so he decided to take a bite out of the puffy bread stuffed with raisins, that he spotted and now had on his copper plate. He chewed slowly watching as others returned to their meals. Seven stallions and four mares. Three unicorns, two pegasi and the rest earth ponies.

"So Bella, was it?" Somber decided to start a conversation to distract himself from the knowledge that Silvertongue was staring at him.

"Actually it's Belladonna, but Bella will do just fine." She answered with that strange accent of hers after a sip of what he guessed was wine from hers copper chalice.

"So… What's his story? Silvertongue's I mean." Somber asked, trying to be discrete…

"I'm here you know, you could just ask me…" The mentioned stallion then began to mumbling something about rude guests. Somber smiled sheepishly.

"Well our resident jester…" She was interrupted by a loud "Hey!", which she ignored. "Had the, how do I put it... misfortune of having a thievery related cutie mark. It landed him in trouble Luna knows how many times… and a few times in jail, before the temple was build that is."

Silvertongue became suddenly quite serious, a look that in Somber's eyes made him look far more grim than his previous, almost jovial demeanor.

"And I thank Luna every night that it was build, if not I would probably still sit in a jail cell for something that is my special talent." He looked down at his plate full of crumbles. "It's just sometimes stronger than me, you know?"

Somepony cleared his throat to his right, Somber leaned a bit forward to see whoever it was. It was the third unicorn at the table, surprisingly his coat was white and his mane was long and straight, blue with a purple stripe. He was also wearing a black robe, but his looked more body fitting than that of the priests and had a leather, dyed dark gray armor that covered his shoulders and withers.

"Indeed, the Temple of the Night is a safe heaven for those with talents that make other ponies distrust us, or outright fear us." The white unicorn shot a look at a group of three earth ponies, two stallions and a mare. "Of course those, that are getting their bits in more… forceful ways, are also sheltered here so long as Luna favors them."

The first thing, that came to Somber's mind with the given description of the huddled group of three ponies was 'mercenaries', the next one was 'bandits'. They ought to have made a lot of enemies in their... line of work, no wonder that they stopped at the Temple. But it was not that, that intrigued him in what the other unicorn said.

"And how do you know, that Luna favors somepony?" He asked looking at Bella then at the yet unnamed pegasus at the head of the table.

"Those touched by our goddess, carry with them a tiny fraction of her magic mixed with their own magic." The older pegasus answered.

"So that means that you have somepony gifted in sensing magic as a priest, right?" Somber's curiosity grew, surely they had to have somepony as a sensor. He didn't see how it could work otherwise.

"Now that is one of the Temple's secrets, all you need to know is that our Soothsayer can easily detect such a… mark." The tone of the older pony had that quality in it, that signaled the end of a discussion on this subject.

After that came a moment of silence as everypony thought either about their future plans, or about what was said in case of a certain ex-human.

About an hour after the breakfast ended, Somber was pacing in his small room. He was a bit nervous about the next step of this journey. Although he had nothing to lose and everything to gain, the thought of visiting the Castle of the Royal Sisters still made him uneasy.

Although he remembered Glimmer's warning about the priests and nobles, he felt more confident in dealing with the priests so far.

With a snort Somber realized that he was being a bit cowardly. It was not something he ever thought he would be calling himself, the brave and even hotheaded Gryffindor at heart… a coward? He shook his head and took a deep breath.

"Just do it…" He all but snarled at himself, straightening, doning his cloak and pulling up the hood.

Within moments he was out in the main hall of the Temple, on his left stood the massive statue of Princess Luna made wholly from polished obsidian, and encrusted with diamonds and sapphires. On the right were two sets of massive double doors, made from mahogany with carved in them depictions of night sky, inlaid with silver. They were currently only slightly open and the openings were covered by massive dark curtains, allowing ponies to enter and leave, but letting in only the tiniest amounts of sunlight.

The day was cool and windy, but the sky was clear thanks to the pegasi weather teams.

During his walk towards the Castle he quickly noticed that ponies tended to get out of his way. For a moment he was wondering why they did it, the it hit him. He was wearing his cloak with the hood pulled up, amongst ponies that had nothing to hide, he had to look at least suspicious. To be honest he also had nothing to hide, but the cloak gave him a bit of a nostalgic feeling, he had to admit that. It was almost like wearing a Hogwarts cloak, but he pulled down the hood revealing his muzzle, which seemed to pacify the crowd around him.

At the bridge he came across two guards in golden looking, plate armour. It covered almost all of their bodies with the exception of legs and necks, which were protected by a golden chain mail. Both held long spears, and had short swords sheathed at their sides.

"Halt! Stranger, what business do you have within the Castle?" The shout was so unexpected, coming from the perfectly still guards, that it stopped Somber immediately. He looked between the two guards.

"I need to speak with Princess Celestia." The dark gray unicorn stated with determination.

"A lot of ponies want's to speak with our Princess. State your name and say what you want to discuss with the Princess." Said the guard to Somber's right, waving one hoof. It turned out to be a signal of some sorts, as from a small building near the river bank flown out a pegasus in a lighter version of the golden armour. The pegasus was carrying a saddlebag with scrolls, an inkwell and a quill.

"I'm Somber Blackmane, and what I want to discuss is a private matter."

What Somber didn't expect was the guards standing even straighter, if that was possible, and saluting him by hitting the spears against their armor with a loud clang.

"Sir Blackmane, we didn't recognize you, sorry sir. The Princess will be notified about your arrival immediately. Please go directly to the throne room."

Somber blinked owlishly, and then blinked again before his mind processed what happened. Not wanting to test his luck, he began walking forward, towards the castle not really paying attention to where he was going still dumbfounded by the guards reaction.

While he walked, he duly noted that the Castle built mostly from gray stone, was obviously built with a military purpose in mind, and the expensive furnishings and decorations were probably an afterthought.

He had to ask for directions a couple of times, but finally he reached the throne room's door. They looked normal enough, if he ignored the solid gold and silver insignia on the center of the double doors, that depicted the Sun and Moon in a Yin-Yang symbol like fashion.

The guards stationed by the doors pushed them open allowing him to enter.

When Somber entered the throne room he was once again astonished, this time by its simplicity. High windows on both sides allowed the sunlight to flood into the large room. In the center, between two rows of slim columns a lush red carpet lead from doors to the dais on which stood a white marble throne. Behind the throne was a round alcove, which wall was one big window.

On the throne, on some red and golden pillows sat Princess Celestia with her flowing mane. This time she was wearing a simple, flowing, white dress with gold threads sewn in that made it shimmer when the alicorn made even the smallest of movements. She was also wearing a heavy looking golden torque with a ruby set in its center, and on her head was her golden tiara.

A few steps lower on the dais stood an elderly, white coated, blond maned unicorn stallion clad in golden armor similar to the one of the guards, but his had a heavy white cape trimmed with gold attached to it that covered most of his body, and when Somber approached the dais he could see the now familiar protective cantrips engraved into the visible parts of the metal. The only other differences was that he was not wearing a helmet or any visible weapon.

"Ah, Sir Blackmane, finally. We were beginning to worry you would never come to our city." Celestia's loud voice echoed in the throne room, making Somber a bit uncomfortable.

"Princess Celestia." Somber said, bowing slightly and then looking at the monarch. "I must say, I'm curious what is it with the 'Sir Blackmane', if you don't mind me asking?"

"A sign of our gratitude for your service for the good of our kingdom." Celestia saw the still questioning look she was given and smiled slightly. "You Somber Blackmane, have been given the title of Solar Knight. And now that you are here we can make it official."

For a moment Somber didn't know, if he should feel honoured or annoyed because he seemingly had no say in this matter. In the end he decided to go with the flow… And in the end, he figured that such a title will be only beneficial to him.

"Very well then. What should I do?" Even if he tried not to sound annoyed, a bit of it still crept into his voice. The white gold clad stallion noticed it and frowned slightly but said nothing, and the Princess either didn't catch it in his voice or she just ignored it.

"Come closer to us, five steps below the throne and kneel." Although she the alicorn was still speaking so loudly Somber was getting used to it now.

The dark gray unicorn approached the throne and stopped five steps below it. Just now he observed that the steps were designed to be wide enough so a pony could kneel on them without it feeling too awkward.

Somber looked up at the Princess, now being that much closer to her he could see her stunning pale magenta eyes. But soon enough his gaze focused on her mane, as the alicorn horn glowed with a gold aura, something began to emerge from her mane.

It was a hilt of a sword caped with a large triangular ruby set in a golden pomel, its grip was wrapped with white cloth with two short tassels moving in an unseen breeze. The guard, also made from gold, looked like the sun. It was a hollow circle with six golden spikes emerging from it. The blade surprisingly was also made from gold, however it had runes he had never seen before carved into its whole surface that glowed slightly. It was long, tapering to a point. If Somber had to guess from its size it was a claymore.

Celestia's golden aura was holding the grip, and the sword levitated between the two of them with it tip pointing up.

"This is Zenith, nowadays it serves more ceremonial purpose than in ages past, thankfully." For a moment, as she eyed the sword, hers voice quieted and took on a thoughtful quality as if she spoke more to herself than to anypony.

Somber could feel the raw magical power radiating off the golden claymore. It was like a hot summers wind... he could even feel his mane waving slightly, which made his eyes go wide when he realized it. The magic was powerful enough to manifest as a hot wind. No matter how weak it was, it spoke volumes of the blade's hidden power.

"Your highness, you don't really plan on knighting him here and now, are you? It's improper for ceremony of such significance, this should be a grand event!" The until now silent stallion spoke with a bit of agitation in his voice, he also made a step forward.

"We do Count Stronghoof. It's a mare formality at this point in our eyes. And you, the Grand Master of the Solar Knights are enough, when it comes to the knighting requiring a witness." Although her voice and demeanor were calm, Celestia's gaze dared him to challenge her words.

"And I don't really like crowds staring at me anyway…" Somber muttered, but he had to say it far louder than he wanted because the Count shot him a displeased look, while the Princess smiled a bit broader.

"Now then that's settled, let us begin." The golden magic moved the sword to rest above his left shoulder, this close the blade felt scaldingly hot. "Dou you Somber Blackmane swear your undying loyalty to us? To obey our orders and carry them out to the best of your ability?"

The dark gray unicorn was catched of guard. The Princess didn't mention any oath earlier… On the other hoof he should have expected it, nothing ever came without a price it would seem. He sighed.

"I do." After his words, the blade moved to his other shoulder.

"Then as the Avatar of the Sun I proclaim you a Solar Knight. May you serve our ponies and kingdom well." The blade floated to Celestia's right side. "And do you Count Stronghoof of House Blueblood, the Grand Master of Solar Knights, recognize this stallion as a Solar Knight?"

"Aye, I do." Stronghoof said, also with a sigh. His Lady's word was law after all and he would not disobey and disgrace his family.

"Then it is done. You are now Sir Somber of House Blackmane." As she finished talking, Celestia hid Zenith in her mane.

Somber guessed he could now stand up, so he did. He began looking between the Princess and Stronghoof.

"So what happens now Princess?" He decided to break the silence that settled into the throne room.

"Now you will go with Count Stronghoof to discuss your nearest future. As a Knight he is your superior, unless we personally give you an order." The white alicorn wanted to speak again, but was interrupted by a pony walking through a small side door. He, as it was a stallion, approached the dais and bowed.

"Princess, the Day Court should begin in half an hour, nobles are already gathering."

"Very well, have them entertained for now." She dismissed the servant with a wave of a hoof and focused on Somber once again. "Our time is growing short for now, but later we will wish to discuss other matters with you Sir Somber. Await our summons."

Both Knights, knowing when they were being dismissed bowed, with Somber being a bit hesitant about it, and began walking toward the double doors.

"So… Count Stronghoof, what should I do now?" The dark gray unicorn was one more today, dumbfounded by the turn of events. It was beginning to look like he was once again losing control of his life.

"For now young one, we shall go to the library where in peace, we will be able to think and talk what to do with you." The voice of the older unicorn was calm and almost as rhythmic as the clanging of his armored hoof on the stone floor. "I admit, I'm not happy with being saddled with another recruit, after the training of the five other newest additions to our order is months ahead. The ceremony is performed once per five years for all of the carefully selected recruits for a reason." He eyed the dark gray unicorn critically from the corner of his eye. "And your coat color will stand out as a soar hoof. But if the Princess want's you to be a Knight, then she had to see something in you. What? I don't know... but who am I to disobey her?"

Somber listened with attention, he could already feel a slight dislike for the Grand Master growing in him. At least the golden clad unicorn behaved professional and didn't let his annoyance influence him too much.

As the two walked through the castle Somber saw far more ponies milling around, mostly in extravagant clothing and costly jewelry. Nobles have arrived for the Day Court.

And amongst the crowd, the two unicorn were walking towards the library, one thinking about how to smoothly integrate his new underling into the training, the other thinking hard about what he got himself into...

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**AN: **So another chapter done, if you haven't noticed until now English is not my native language and the chapters are not proofread, so sorry for any mistakes. I will probably wrap up the "Origin" Arc of the story in the next chapter. I introduced a couple of ponies in here, and I'm quite certain that some will have major or minor roles later in the story. I hope you enjoyed it, so R&R!


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